Reds plan Nacional link-up

06 Sep 2011 09:45:04

Liverpool are close to completing a formal relationship with Nacional that will give the Reds first call on their players. The Reds recently signed Sebastian Coates from Nacional and Luis Suarez originally played for the Uruguayan side before joining Ajax so Damien Comolli is keen to sign any further stars that may come through Nacional's Academy. "I've got to thank the people from Nacional, the directors and their chairman, because they have been very helpful. They tried to help the player (Coates) complete his will, which was to come here," said the Director of Football. "They tried to find a solution for us to make it happen. We now have strong links with them because both Luis Suarez and Sebastian Coates have come from this club and been developed by their academy. "We are talking about a partnership with them that we would like to create over the next three, four or five years, to see if there is more talent coming through. Maybe we can help them to develop their standards and in turn have the ability to bring those young players here. "During the Copa America they had 14 players out of the 23 who had at some point played at Nacional or were developed by Nacional. That is a fantastic record for their academy. "So it is very interesting for us. We already have a strong link with South America through Lucas, Maxi and Luis. "Since it's been such a success with Luis - and I'm sure it will be for Sebastian - why don't we try to make it an even bigger success by bringing in other players from Nacional?"